Is Tipping Really Necessary? The Past and Future of Tipping
Tipping was started by English aristocrats it originated from vails, small monetary gifts given to their servants during the late Middle Ages. Initially, these gifts were meant to reward extra work or provide assistance during difficult times. By the 18th century, servants in country houses and inns anticipated these gifts from guests, and contemporary sources often complained about the expense. According to historians the practice only gained popularity in America after the Civil War, when increasing numbers of Americans began traveling to Europe. Influenced by the Gilded Age, these newly affluent Americans adopted and brought back the aristocratic custom. Initially, Americans despised the custom, labeling it as un-American and undemocratic. Over time, the opposition diminished, and tipping became ingrained in American culture. While the government quickly recognized tips as taxable income, it was much slower to include them in calculations for unemployment insurance and social security benefits. People reluctantly accepted the practice, although many still feel uneasy in tipping situations.
There has been considerable debate about whether racism fueled the tipping movement in the United States. Majority of porters working in train stations were Black, and their low wages were undoubtedly influenced by racism. While it is unclear if Americans explicitly saw tipping as racist, racism was pervasive in society and influenced tipping practices. Many white workers also received tips during this period, but there are instances of white Southerners refusing to tip Black workers. Some employers used tipping as a means to keep wages low, most notoriously the Pullman Palace Car Company where majority of their workers are former slaves, which openly admitted to paying their porters below living wages because they received tips. Tipping reinforced a unique and often racialized class structure in service jobs, where workers had to satisfy both customers and employers to earn their income. Several states attempted to abolish tipping in the early 1900s, often acknowledging its racist origins. However, the restaurant industry, powerful and influential, successfully overturned local bans on tipping. Organized labor leaders also opposed the practice, even if their rank-and-file benefited from tips. Moreover, tipped workers—along with many others, since the act only covered industries comprising about one-fifth of the labor force—were excluded from the first federal minimum wage law enacted in 1938.
The United States federal government mandates that employees who earn at least $30 per month in tips must be paid a minimum wage of $2.13 per hour. If an employee's total earnings, including tips, do not meet the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in any given week, the employer is required to increase their cash wages to make up the difference. While the vast majority of employers must adhere to the federal minimum wage, some states have chosen to raise the tipped minimum wage above the federal standard. Seven states and the territory of Guam apply the same minimum wage to both tipped and non-tipped employees. The remaining 43 states—including those without state minimum wage laws—have a lower minimum wage for tipped employees compared to traditional employees and require employers to compensate for any shortfall below the minimum wage. There is disagreement among economists, business leaders, and labor activists about whether the tipped wage should be higher and if tipped employees should receive a different wage than non-tipped workers.
Supporters of a separate wage for tipped employees note that the law ensures tipped workers receive the same minimum wage as others. They argue that increasing the minimum wage could lead to higher prices for consumers and fewer job opportunities due to the thin margins in the restaurant industry. A 2011 study indicated that the WAGE Act, which proposed raising the minimum wage for all tipped employees, would have reduced their cumulative work hours by 11 million. The study also found that a 10% increase in the cash wage for tipped employees tends to reduce their hours worked by 5%. Additionally, a 2012 study showed that eliminating the tip credit tends to decrease employment in the U.S. restaurant industry. Critics also fear that removing the tip credit could lead to fewer tips and exacerbate income inequality by benefiting higher-paid servers over non-tipped back-of-the-house staff.
How much do people tip their waiter/waitress? here are some survey result conducted on tipping culture in America.
Most people tip, with 95% reporting that they tip at least sometimes. Older individuals (aged 59 and above) are more likely to always tip, while those aged 27 to 42 are more inclined to tip beyond 25%. Male respondents slightly edge out female respondents in terms of always tipping.Among respondents, over half (57%) typically tip between 11% and 20% of the service price. A minority tip more or less than this range. Interestingly, individuals aged 27 to 42 are most likely to tip beyond 25%, although this is rare across all age groups.
When it comes to gender differences, men are approximately twice as likely as women to tip between 21% and 25%. Meanwhile, women tend to tip between 11% and 20%An overwhelming majority of respondents (64%) indicated that they leave a higher tip—at least 11% more—when tipping digitally compared to tipping with cash. There are a couple of potential reasons for this trend. First, when selecting a tip amount on a screen, buyers might not feel the immediate impact as strongly as when physically pulling cash out of their wallet. Second, practical constraints could play a role; individuals may be limited by the amount of cash they have on hand when tipping in cash.
As technology advances relationship between people, in this case between waiters/waitress/servers and customers is also developing and taking on new forms of transactions but maintains the same same. While tipping has gone digital it still maintains the historical context why it came about and erasing that historical context and background should be the main goal and that main goal should be giving hospitality workers the right and correct wages that can provide that what they need to survive economically in an economical uncertain times.
Source
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/tipping-history-united-states#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20tipping,helping%20out%20in%20hard%20times.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/17/william-barber-tipping-racist-past-227361/
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/digital-tipping-culture/
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